Looting -- The official thread for discussing the loot system. Updated 18th March, 2013.

It's really frustrating when because of latency, ping, lagging, etc. you lose rares and uniques which were allocated to you. Even if you pay attention and concentrated all the time and click on the thing immediately. Played with some good people, they saw my name on some drop, my timer, and after 1-2 seconds picked it up thinking that if I don't take it then I leave it to them))) which I actually do sometimes but not for every loot. Not to mention people whom I don't know, they grab everything like crazy ninjas. Claiming for that rare or unique everytime in party chat ? No, thank you, playing solo is better. Not a good option though as well, soloing can be boring, and partying gives more exp and loot, and what's the point to play solo in MMORPG?

When your party is fighting with a big pack of monsters, and someone sees his name on some rare and runs to grab it quickly instead of helping to others who may die at that moment, is that a good gamestyle and teamwork which are meant to be?

Of course, instanced looting, separate drops, etc. have their own cons, but still they are options. Could you please at least consider adding 2~4 more seconds to timer, that mustn't slow gameplay for most parties. Just a suggestion and IMHO.

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BRavich wrote:

Rewarding players that prioritize looting over fighting seems incredibly backwards to me.

Exactly!

This is my main problem with FFA (free-for-all) looting. If I am playing in a party, my main goal is to provide as much ass-kicking as possible to help the group. I want my party members to also be focused on the fighting. The idea is to perfect the art of killing and see how good your group can get at defeating hordes of enemies.

But with a FFA looting system, everyone is encouraged to frequently drop out of battle to grab shiny things.

It's like we are in the middle of this epic struggle, battling for our lives, cutting a swath of blood through the ranks of our foes, when *suddenly* SOMEONE IS DANGLING A SET OF SHINY KEYS! and the battle instantly stops, we drop our blades and go all *grabby hands* to reach for the sparkly, jangling keys!!

Imagine if the battle scenes in Braveheart were like that. lolololol

I'm not sure who necro'd this, but I'll still chip in:

I'm vehemently against the current loot system. Most, if not all, other games have an individual loot system, i.e., you and only you can see your loot. Why can't we adapt this system? What are the drawbacks here? Less complaining? Fewer parties breaking up because I took a unique that had been on the ground for 10 seconds before someone even noticed, let alone tried to loot?

Would it really be so hard, from a programming perspective, to implement this?

I don't want looting to be a mad rush that could cost me my life or my party. Looting is supposed to be REWARDING. Why must I feel like I'm some scoundrel when I'm doing nothing but following the game's rules when I "ninja" someone else's item?

It's hard to trust people you don't know. I'd love to have a full group to go run maps.

Instanced loot will promote more group play, end of story.

You could run a test by making the timers on the loot a high number, 5 minuets or so.

Less coding, less complaining from people, and feedback from it.

Meh, couldn't hurt.

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didevol wrote:

It's hard to trust people you don't know. I'd love to have a full group to go run maps.

Instanced loot will promote more group play, end of story.

You could run a test by making the timers on the loot a high number, 5 minuets or so.

Less coding, less complaining from people, and feedback from it.

Meh, couldn't hurt.

Not end of story.

5 minutes is a joke for one. Who the hell would wait 5 min. If you were collecting RGB links, and I wasn't, would you wait 5 min to get it?

No. Of course not. The same applies for any loot. Instanced loot just means more asking team mates to pick up loot I want but you don't, thereby slowing gameplay to a snail's pace.

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SL4Y3R wrote:

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didevol wrote:

It's hard to trust people you don't know. I'd love to have a full group to go run maps.

Instanced loot will promote more group play, end of story.

You could run a test by making the timers on the loot a high number, 5 minuets or so.

Less coding, less complaining from people, and feedback from it.

Meh, couldn't hurt.

Not end of story.

5 minutes is a joke for one. Who the hell would wait 5 min. If you were collecting RGB links, and I wasn't, would you wait 5 min to get it?

No. Of course not. The same applies for any loot. Instanced loot just means more asking team mates to pick up loot I want but you don't, thereby slowing gameplay to a snail's pace.

His assertion of 5 minutes was an example. What he really meant to say was that combat should ideally determine how long the timer is, and expire within a reasonable amount of time after combat has finished.

Combat usually lasts seconds, drop assessment also lasts seconds. Timers would still be on the order of seconds then... but longer than current timers.

Also see this dicussion for GGG current take on the FFA situation and my question to them: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/53829/page/7/#p683955

Which is why party leaders should just be able to adjust the timers.....

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SL4Y3R wrote:

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didevol wrote:

It's hard to trust people you don't know. I'd love to have a full group to go run maps.

Instanced loot will promote more group play, end of story.

You could run a test by making the timers on the loot a high number, 5 minuets or so.

Less coding, less complaining from people, and feedback from it.

Meh, couldn't hurt.

Not end of story.

5 minutes is a joke for one. Who the hell would wait 5 min. If you were collecting RGB links, and I wasn't, would you wait 5 min to get it?

No. Of course not. The same applies for any loot. Instanced loot just means more asking team mates to pick up loot I want but you don't, thereby slowing gameplay to a snail's pace.

The end of story remark was intended for the "will promote more group play". Which I think it would, from most of the remarks and comments people have been saying they play solo more of the time because of ninja looters.

Now please don't get more wrong on that. If it's going to be ffa loot, make it ffa loot, no timers, no names, nothing. Example: An Exalt drops with your name on it, you saw your name on it, this causes the "Hey that was my drop!" fiasco if someone else picks it up. If there was no name on it, it's "awe, he got to it faster than I"(hopefully). I think having your name on a drop for a very short time is a bummer, and that causes an issue.

I wasn't saying literally make the timers 5 mins lol. It was more of a half-assed thought as I typed, I'm sorry if you took it that way. Something like what iamstryker suggested is a good idea too.

Here's a quick thought for the guys at GGG regarding looting styles.

Have you thought about simply polling/surveying your beta testers to see what type of looting style they prefer?

I often hear a lot of hyperbole about players being happy with the way the current loot system works and question where you are getting this data from.

A thorough survey would put an end to this dilemma once and for all, especially if you surveyed 10,000+ beta testers and see >50% or 60% response rate of favoring the current free-for-all loot style.

Just a suggestion.

I'm a little shocked that this topic has gone this far.

It's obvious that a lot about "modern" games leave a lot to be desired, but instanced drops is an example of a consensus feature. Guild Wars 1 showed that it's a knife that cuts through the agonies of e-drama that grind the game to a halt and grabbing at stuff like hungry dogs that makes you not want to play with other people.

It's just like splash damage hurting your allies. That one lasted like one game in this genre and then disappeared.

Instanced, displayed only to you, should be the default. The only hypothetical situation in which it causes ANY problems is that some guy decided to be a goomba and leave a sweet unique you want on the ground. That you don't know about. So you feel no drama.

All the other options have drawbacks.

Free For All as an optional per-person or per-party toggle would be fine - hell if you could flash it on and then back off as a way of saying "I don't want any of this crap but you guys might", that alone is better than the timer that might be too long or too short, or having to pick up and drop things individually.

That's probably the best solution. That, or luxuriously generous timers so you can be a vulture or something..